Cam Ward makes College Football Playoff appeal after Heisman loss

Cam Ward calls for the NCAA to increase the number of spots in the College Football Playoffs from 16-24 after the quarterback's Miami Hurricanes narrowly missed the 12-team cut by finishing with the 13th-best record.

As a result, he will take on the Iowa State Cyclones in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on December 28 shortly after Christmas Day, and he doesn't seem to be best pleased that he missed out on a shot at the national championship game.

"Miami quarterback Cam Ward said he thinks the sweet spot for the College Football Playoff would be between 16-24," Ralph Russo (The Athletic) wrote on X.com, formerly Twitter. "More like the FCS postseason. Ward played in the FCS playoffs in 2021 with Incarnate Word."

Why have the College Football Playoffs expanded?

The College Football Playoffs expanded to 12 teams starting in the 2024 season for several reasons, with the primary goals of increasing fairness, enhancing competitiveness, and generating more revenue.

The change came about after the four-team format was criticized for leaving out deserving teams, especially those from Group of Five conferences, meaning that now more teams to have a shot at the national championship, including teams from smaller conferences.

Automatic berths are given to the six highest-ranked conference winners to help remove subjectivity from decision making, thus giving a fairer representation of the entire country and talent pool.

The new structure also allows more diverse range of matchups, offering better competition and excitement for both the players and fans, as well as allowing more teams to compete for the championship.

A larger playoff increases fan engagement by giving more schools and their ers something to cheer for, and thus will create more revenue for the NCAA and competitors by increasing the number of games and thus ticket sales, as well as more media exposure.